The Path to Transparency in Alternative Investing

Around the world, many investors are turning to alternative assets to increase yield in the current low — or even negative — interest-rate environment. The Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), sponsored by Northern Trust, sought to ascertain the importance of various factors to investors’ and investment managers’ alternative investment decision making. In February 2017, the EIU surveyed 200 senior asset management and institutional investor executives. These executives represented several different types of organizations, ranging from private equity firms and hedge funds to corporations, nonprofits and insurance companies.

The survey explored views on the importance of considerations such as regulations and transparency related to traditional and alternative investments; how these considerations are managed; and the role of data in the management process. Respondents also were asked how investment decision making has changed since the 2008 financial crisis.